Interview Techniques That Work - Jump To A Topic Below

Closing in on the end of an Interview, the Director of HR inquired..."And what starting salary are you expecting?"

Candidate..."In the neighborhood of $125,000 a year, plus a strong benefits package."

The employer responded...“Well, how does this sound; an Offer that includes 5-weeks of vacation, 14 paid holidays, full 100% employer-paid medical and dental benefits, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, a company car leased every 2 years – let’s say, a Toyota XLS, a cell phone, an IBM laptop and a company credit card?"

Candidate sits straight up..."Wow! Are you kidding?"

The interviewer smiled, replying... "Yep, but you started it” ...this humorous situation points out the fact that we must never lose sight of the importance of everything we say in terms of how it will be interpreted...

When you walk into an interview, it must be for a position you are ready/able to do.  You’re there to Solve the manager’s Problems.  You are there to “do” the Job; not to “do” an interview.  Both you and the employer have Power during the interview and over its outcome.

Candidates confuse the source of control in an interview, because (in a successful meeting) it shifts. The employer is the host and is (initially) in control...it’s their need that gave rise to the meeting. That’s why “the” DOING of the JOB (satisfying those needs) is paramount in the interview.  

Paradoxically, this is also the mechanism that shifts control to all successful candidates. Doing the Job tips the scales and brings control to the candidate; causing the most rapid shift of control that I am aware of.  

There is nothing more compelling than doing the job if you want to get the employer’s attention.  Unfortunately, few candidates do it because it requires homework and preparation. However, it will differentiate you, placing you in a class by yourself!  

Think about the work you do…it’s really the only thing you can discuss that will help you to receive an Offer. Your goal is to help the employer solve their problems. You need to demonstrate your abilities and discuss your past accomplishments.  

Judge every job by only 4 questions because they’ll reveal your knowledge, attitude and ability regarding a specific job. They are the only real accurate sources of success because an employer needs to know them…. 

• Do you understand the job that needs to be done?

• Can you do it?

• Can you do it the way the employer needs it to be done?

• Can you do it profitably?

Those 4 questions focus on You rather than on the Job and they help you to define the Value You Offer to an Employer. This is how you get control of an interview. 

Strong candidates offer to show how they can make the employer more successful. And, by doing this on the job, you take part of the load off the manager’s back and onto yours, so your manager can move on to their next job.

VERY IMPORTANT: Early on in the interview, ask… “ I’d appreciate your thoughts on...

• exactly what this position is

• the type of person you’re looking for

• what that person needs to accomplish to be successful

• what tools/resources will they be provided with. ” 

...that information enables you to focus your experience, skills, acumen, abilities and personal characteristics or strengths on THEIR needs as they relate to the type of person they feel will be successful in that role.

Never lose sight of the fact that you will only receive an Offer if you understand their PROBLEM and prove to them that you can SOLVE it. 

One of the best books I’ve read is...Ask The Headhunter - Nick Corcodilos…a source of some of these ideas! I also enjoy Lou Adler's methods and have incorporated some of this thoughts into this page.

If asked, “Why are you looking?...<if this response fits your situation> “quite frankly I was not looking; I am very happy in my current position but am interested in what appears to be a very challenging opportunity, and one where I can utilize the skills and experiences I have fine-tuned throughout my career”.

 Questions you may wish to ask: 

• Tell me about the person who held this position previously and why it is now open.
• Profile your “successful” recent hires; what distinguishes them from those needing to improve?
• What are the greatest challenge/most significant things you will be looking for me to accomplish, and in what time frame?
• Of all my responsibilities or performance objectives, which one is the most critical?
• How will my performance be measured? Explain how my work impacts the company’s profitability.
• What characteristics are unique to your company? In what areas does your company excel or have limitations?
• Based upon the new technologies that alter the way we do business, how has your company adapted?
• Who will be responsible for assimilating me into the company?
• Describe the individual I will report to; what chemistry needs to exist to create a successful working environment?
• How would you describe the management style of this organization?
• What is the average length of time a client remains with you?
• What’s your typical selling cycle?
• Discuss your growth aspirations over the next 5 to 10 years.
• Tell me about your competitors and how you market against them.
• How do you prevent your product/service from bring viewed as a commodity?
• How is value-added created?
• What other products/services are on the horizon?

One way to know who the real superstars are is by the questions they ask. Some ask questions that are not for the faint of heart. Questions that take no prisoners...they are tough, specific, and leave interviewers little wiggle room.  

The following are 25 very intriguing questions candidates have asked.

• What would I see if I stood outside the front door at 5 o'clock? Would everyone be smiling? Staying late or leaving early? Would they be taking work home?
• What is your "learning plan" for me for my first six months?
• What competencies do you propose I develop that I don't currently have?
• Which individual in the department can I learn the most from?
• What can he or she teach me? Can I meet them?
• Does the company have a specific program to advance my career?
• What are some examples of the decisions I could make in this job without any approvals? Show me the degree of autonomy and control I will have in this position.
• How many hours a week do you expect the average person on your team to work? How many hours does the average person in fact work? Are there work/life programs in place to promote a healthy work/life balance?
• How will my performance be evaluated? What are the top criteria you use? What percent of my compensation is based on my performance? Is there a process where the employees get to assess their supervisor?
• If I do a great/bad job in the first 90 days, how specifically will you let me know? What are the steps you would take to help me improve?
• What is the first assignment you intend to give me? Where does that assignment rank in the department's priorities?
• What makes this assignment a great opportunity for me at this particular point in my career?
• How many hours of your time can I expect to get each week for the first six months on the job? How often will we have scheduled meetings?
• If I were frustrated about my job what specific steps would you take to help me overcome that frustration? How about if you were frustrated with me?
• Can you show me examples of what you have done for others in your group in the past year to overcome any frustration?
• What are the "wows!" of this job? What are the worst parts? And what will you do to maximize the former and minimize the latter?
• If I asked the incumbent what stinks about the job, what would he or she say? Can I talk to him or her?
• What are the biggest problems facing this department in the next six months and one year?
• What key competencies have you identified that I will need to develop in the next six months to be successful?
• What makes this company a great place to work? What outside evidence (rankings or awards) do you have to prove this is a great place to work? What is the company going to do in the next year to make it better?
• What is the best/toughest question I could ask you to find out about the worst aspects of this job? How would you answer it?
• If you were my best friend, what would you tell me about this job that we haven't already discussed?
• Can you give me some examples of the best and worst aspects of the company's culture? When top performers leave the company why do they leave and where do they usually go?
• When was the last significant layoff? What criteria were used to select those to stay? What packages were offered to those that were let go?
• Does the company have a program to significantly reward individuals that develop patents/ great products? Is there a program to help individuals "start" their own firms or subsidiary? Will I be required to fill out non-compete agreements?

As the conversation winds down, you will most likely be asked if you have any other questions; in my opinion (provided you are interested in the opportunity), a unique way to "close" would be a form of any of the 3 following ideas...

• “thank you for your time; I am very interested in this opportunity; based on our conversations to date, did you hear anything to make you think that I would not be successful in this position?”  
• “are there any areas we’ve discussed that are unclear, or that I may not have adequately addressed, that we need re-address”.
• "based on our discussion, did you hear anything that you think would be an obstacle in me not satisfying the job requirements of performing in the manner you have defined”.

Do Not Say Another Word; you’ve just asked to take the next step and are looking for objections or a buy-in. 

Listen carefully...this is your best opportunity to make sure that the interviewer did not misinterpret anything that was discussed.

The One Question Interview is a stand-alone query that pierces through the veneer of generalizations, overcomes nervousness, minimizes the impact of the candidate's personality on the interviewer, eliminates the exaggeration candidates might adopt as an interviewing ploy and actually determines if the candidate is competent and motivated to do the work required.  

The reason this is so fascinating is because it ties back into making sure that you understand exactly what the employer needs you to do to be successful coupled with your ability to relate your previous accomplishments to those deliverables... remember; past accomplishments are the best predictor of future success.

That question is...Please think about your most significant accomplishment...tell me all about it.

Here’s why this simple question so powerful...let’s say your interview began that way...what accomplishment would you select? Imagine that over the next 5-20 minutes the interviewer obtained the following information from you...

• A complete description of the accomplishment
• The company you worked for and what it did 
• The actual results achieved: numbers, facts, changes made, details, amounts 
• When it took place and how long it took 
• The importance of this accomplishment to the company
• Your title, your role and why you were chosen 
• The 3-4 biggest challenges you faced and how you dealt with them 
• A few examples of leadership and initiative
• Some of the major decisions made
• The environment, the resources available and how you made more resources available
• The technical skills needed to accomplish the objective
• The technical skills learned and how long it took to learn them
• The actual role you played
• The team involved and all of the reporting relationships 
• Some of the biggest mistakes you made and how you changed and grew as a person
•  What you would do differently if you could do it again
• Aspects of the project you truly enjoyed as well as those you didn't especially care about
• The budget available and your role in preparing it and managing it
• How you did on the project vs. the plan and how you developed the plan
• How you motivated and influenced others, with specific examples to  prove your claims
• How you dealt with conflict with specific examples
• Anything else you felt was important to the success of the project

If the accomplishment was big enough, and if the answer was detailed enough to take 15-20 minutes to complete, consider how much any interviewer now knows about you. The insight gained from this type of question is remarkable. Just about everything you need to know about a person's competency can be extracted from the response.

This question is very revealing. But the real issue isn’t the question: it's the information that's given that's most important. Few people are able to give this type of information without additional prompting from the interviewer. This is what real interviewing is about...getting the answer to this simple yet very powerful question. Good interviewers spend time learning to get the answer to just this one question. They’ve conditioned themselves to understand the accomplishment, the process used to achieve the accomplishment, the environment in which the accomplishment took place and the candidate's role.

To expand upon their assessment, they may ask this same question in the same level of detail for a variety of different accomplishments. IE., describe two to three different individual and team accomplishments for the past five to ten years; put them in time order to see the growth and impact over time in different jobs, and with different companies. They may also ask about accomplishments that directly relate to job specific needs, for example, "Describe your biggest accomplishment in managing your largest client".

With this approach to digging in/finding out about major accomplishments the employer has all they need to make a reasoned evaluation of a person's ability to deliver similar results in a similar environment to your own. Here's what they’ll learn — initiative, commitment, team leadership, growth, potential, compatibility, comparability, character, true personality, applicable experience, ability to learn, and true interest and motivation to do the work required.

Few candidates give all of this information on their own, so the best interviewers “dig in”. Because it's the interviewer's responsibility to elicit this type of valuable information, sharp candidates prepare this in advance.  This type of fact-finding puts all candidates on a level playing field. When members of the interviewing team conduct their interviews this way, another key source of hiring errors is eliminated— the tendency of most interviewers to talk too much, listen too little and ask a bunch of irrelevant questions.

I’ve been in the search industry for 13+ years and to me, this is Critical...make sure that you understand the deliverables <the performance objectives that must be done for you to be successful> and be able to discuss the accomplishments from your previous positions that qualify you for the opportunity you are interviewing for!

Training and development are essential functions for competing and retaining positions in today's market. It is very important for all job seekers to educate themselves continually, so they have an edge on the other candidates competing for the same positions. Keep up with the progression of new technology, especially computer software programs. Attend classes that will help further current positions and explore new challenges. The candidate's experience, knowledge of the business and value they can potentially add determines whether they will be interviewed and eventually hired, not their age. Since job seekers are protected from discrimination regardless of age, race or gender, experience and knowledge of the industry are the only things that can set them apart. 

BE FLEXIBLE. Younger job seekers are typically flexible in location and in pay. They are excited about an opportunity in an unknown place and they are happy to get their foot in the door. As a recruiter, these are big issues and many companies want to hire people they can afford and who will go where needed.

CHECK YOUR ATTITUDE. Typically, more mature and experienced hires take their job for granted and feel that they have "been there, done that." They feel they have proved themselves at other jobs and that they should be next in line for that coveted “next step”. A better outlook may be to adjust your attitude and think about what you can learn. You need to earn that “next” step and enthusiasm and attitude can make or break that opportunity.

TAKE TRAINING SERIOUSLY. Just because you have been in other training programs does not mean that you can do it all with another company. Take everything in stride and challenge yourself to learn something new or make the most out of training. The more you complain that you already know how to do something, the less enthusiastic the management team is apt to be about you. Take the time to go above and beyond what is expected of you.

 The effects of our 'aging population' will continue to impact how, where and why we do business in the years ahead. The number of qualified and experienced business managers will be scarce as the baby boomers enter retirement and the next generation graduates college and starts their business management careers. This 'gap' could represent significant career opportunities for individuals in their 40's, 50's and 60's. In order for these 'older' job seekers to be competitive with the next-geners in the years to come they should look now to garner those skills and credentials necessary for business tomorrow:

1) Go to school and finish that college degree 2) Get involved as a mentor with your current employer or through a community based organization 3) Take on additional assignments that will allow you to teach and develop younger colleagues 4) Do activities that get you actively involved with the next-geners.

Being able to offer the above skills to an employer should not only make you a more competitive job applicant...it will possibly move you to the top of the list."

Common mistakes include not taking the telephone interview as serious as they would an in-person interview. This would include such behaviors as chewing while speaking on the telephone, loud background noises such as screaming or crying children. You must be prepared for the telephone interview by having a quiet place to talk that is free of distractions. Have your resume handy. If the interviewer calls at an inconvenient time, simply let them know when you can be reached back, or offer to call the interviewer back within a timely fashion."

Another thing that applicants overlook is the voicemail greeting that is on their phone line. They should have a calm, easy to listen to message, even if they have roommates. Loud music, strange greetings and odd jokes give an impression that sometimes is less than inviting to a potential employer. Similar to this is when strange email addresses are listed on resumes. Both of these send out messages of questionable professionalism. When doing a phone interview, make sure background noise is off so that there is opportunity for clear and thorough conversation. From the applicant's point of view they also should want to be less distracted and more focused, because on the phone you are only relying on the voice, and you are missing all those crucial non-verbal cues from body language and setting. As always, with phone manners, watch tone, inflection and volume of your voice as they carry messages as well as the content of your speech. It's OK to say "Let me think about that for a while" if there is a pause and therefore not dead space. Since nerves can affect memory, I would recommend having paper and pen handy to make notes and if called in for an in-person interview can have some more to reflect on in between.

Candidates often leave unprofessional voice messages or music greetings, which initially doesn't create the right impression. When actually speaking to the candidate, an employer may ask if it's a convenient time to talk. Many candidates say Yes even though they are in a shopping center or on the roadside and you can't hear them very well. They may even be at work and they're answering their phone, which again is not a good sign to a prospective employer. Prospective employers are usually offended in any way if the candidate says it isn’t’ a good time. They are happy to call back. I think sometimes on the phone candidates can come across a little more casual than they would in traditional interviews. Over the telephone we don't normally discuss competency-based questions and the candidate may not take the interview as seriously as he or she should. Telephone screening interviews should be considered just as important as in-person interviews because based on that conversation we then decide whether or not to call the candidate in for their first interview.

Some telephone interview tips I would provide to candidates would be to make sure you're in the right surroundings when you're on the phone, don't panic, stay calm, listen to the questions and answer them thoroughly and provide as much information as possible; the deciding factor as to whether or not you are invited in for the first interview is based on that initial contact.

 In today's employment market this continues to be a very sensitive area. The employer resorts to tools such as annual reviews, which allow for a salary increase based upon performance as the most consistent way to ensure fair and timely salary reviews. The security of knowing your boss will be there to take care of you no longer exists. So how does the employee ask for a raise with tact?

1. Do your homework; know what the local market rate for the job is.
2. Discuss on the job accomplishments and strengths you exhibit, and benefits you bring to the table.
3. Timing is important, make a request ONLY when the company is doing well.
4. Never compare yourself to anyone. Rely on your own strengths and skills to make a favorable impact.
5. Keep in mind that whatever the outcome, it is not a personal but a business decision. Sometimes the employer cannot give more in the form of salary. Be open to discussion of alternatives.
6. Always end the meeting on a positive note, reassure the employer of your loyalty to the company no matter what the outcome."

  Asking for a raise can be a positive experience for both the employee and the employer if handled appropriately. The communication may also prevent an employee from resigning unexpectedly. An employee should approach asking for a raise by starting off with doing some research, i.e. finding out if there is a salary range, how and when employees move up the range, what others are paid in the organization, and what other organizations pay for similar positions. Next, set up a dedicated meeting with the manager to discuss. Start the meeting by highlighting the value of your role, contributions and achievements from the "employer's perspective", and not focus on why you "need" the raise. Also, be clear, specific and don't ramble on, and be prepared to consider other variables if a raise is not an option, such as an extra week of holidays, free parking, etc. Be positive, assertive and confident, and take time to "listen" to what the manager has to say.

If the request for the raise is not granted, you may just have to live with it, or else consider looking for a position elsewhere. The organization may not be able to afford the increase, or there may be many others who are available to do the job at that salary. Regardless of the decision, never be defensive and always remain respectful and professional."

If an individual employee wishes to approach their manager for a pay rise they need to go prepared with a good business case as to why this should be considered. An employee, whatever their title and responsibilities, needs to demonstrate that they are bringing value to the company, backed up with facts. This may be by demonstrating that they continually exceed agreed targets, goals and objectives. It may be that the employee is able to show that they consistently receive great guest/customer feedback through either complementary letters and/or that they receive regular mention and praise via say a guest comment card system. Achieving consistently good results and feedback from regular 360-degree job performance appraisals is also often a sound indicator as to an individual's performance and the contribution they are making to their company and hence their value as an employee. Simply asking your boss for a raise without supporting facts and details to underpin your case and seeking a raise just because you want more money will lead to a very brief meeting. 

An interview is a time for a candidate interested in a position to prove they have the qualifications necessary to perform well in the open position. The candidate should use the interview as an opportunity to "sell" him or herself to the company. #1 turnoff - a candidate's excessive lack of knowledge regarding the company and position responsibilities. Candidates must perform initial research on the company and position details before they enter an interview. Many interviewers ask questions about the company to determine the candidates interest level and commitment to working for the company. It is always important to be over prepared for an interview then to be under prepared.

 
Others: 

• when asked what position they are applying for, and respond "anything"! There is no such position!
• strongly smelling of alcohol
• drinking coffee slouched in the interview chair
• chewing gum
• not being professionally attired
  
  These show disrespect to the interviewer. They have no reason to think that you would not report to work in such a manner.
  
  Finally, constantly looking at your watch implies that you are bored. As the interviewee, you should always be able to respond quickly to a question like "in what areas do you feel you need to improve?" We all have faults and it's important to let the prospective employer hear that you realize there are some areas you need to improve upon, and better yet, tell them what you're doing to make those changes. Never criticize your former employer. The other major consideration is being presentable and being prepared. Simply, put your best foot forward!
   

Other interviewing-related questions and answers can be found at www.hcareers.com

Back to Top

© 2009 Exec-Links LLC

All Rights Reserved